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ST. LOUIS — Finishing off a trip that included the high of Domingo German throwing a perfect game, the Yankees spent 5 ²/₃ innings Sunday on the wrong end of a no-hit bid.
And while they did finally scratch across two hits and one unearned run against Jordan Montgomery, the left-hander still dominated his former team once again.
Montgomery out-dueled Gerrit Cole, stifling the Yankees across 6 ²/₃ innings to lead the Cardinals to a 5-1 win in the rubber game of the series at Busch Stadium
“Today, the story was Montgomery,” said Cole, who gave up two runs across six solid innings. “I just got out-pitched. He was outstanding today, moving the ball well. Having him for a long time, when he’s on, he’s really tough. So that was what we had to deal with today and unfortunately I just wasn’t good enough to be able to hold them down quite enough.”
Montgomery reveled in the chance to square off against Cole.
“I was excited to face off against Gerrit,” Montogmery told reporters covering the Cardinals. “He was supposed to duck me and pitch [Saturday] and then the rain happened, and we ended up locking horns. We were texting about it and just excited about it. It was definitely fun.”
After mustering just three hits against the Cardinals (35-48), the Yankees (46-38) flew home with a bad taste in their mouths following a 3-3 road trip against a pair of last-place teams.
“Half and half,” Gleyber Torres said. “We played really well in Oakland but when we came here, we failed. I feel like as a group, we’ve been playing really well. But we’re still looking for more offensively and trying to help the pitchers.”
On a day when manager Aaron Boone was ejected in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes with home-plate umpire Dan Merzel, the Yankees’ inconsistent offense reared its head again.
They did not have a hit until Torres sprayed a double the other way with two outs in the sixth inning.
They did not have a run until the seventh, when Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out but reached first on a passed ball and eventually came home to score on Jake Bauers’ two-out double that knocked Montgomery out of the game.
The Yankees had a chance to tie the game against another one of their former pitchers, right-hander Giovanny Gallegos (Luke Voit trade), and decided to pinch hit Billy McKinney for Jose Trevino (with Anthony Rizzo on the bench).
But McKinney struck out on three pitches, all sliders, to end the threat.
“Rizz was available,” said Boone, who at that point was watching from his office. “In that spot, saving Rizzo for a potential other big spot. Especially [against closer Jordan] Hicks there if we got into a good situation.”
This marked Montgomery’s second start against the Yankees since they traded him to the Cardinals last August.
The first came just four days after the trade as Montgomery delivered five shutout innings of two-hit ball in his Cardinals debut.
It was more of the same Sunday, leading Cole to text Montgomery postgame a meme of a cowboy tipping his cap.
“That’s Monty at his best,” Boone said. “Obviously we gotta find a way to do a little more. But just watching him, I thought he was excellent. He’s got that tough angle and when he’s got his sinker, curve, change going, I thought he executed a lot today and made it tough on us.”
Both runs the Cardinals scored off Cole came quickly in the fourth inning.
Nolan Arenado led off with a double before Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker roped back-to-back singles for the 1-0 lead.
One out later, Andrew Knizner added an RBI single, though Cole avoided further trouble by getting Tommy Edman to hit into an inning-ending double play.
And while the Cardinals later added three insurance runs off Jimmy Cordero, the damage was already done because the Yankees could not strike against Montgomery, denying them a chance to win their fourth straight series.
“Guys are grinding,” Boone said. “I feel like we’re making some progress in some areas and hopefully getting closer and closer to being more and more healthy. Did some good things, but you always want to win series. … But it’s on to the next one. We got a big homestand starting [Monday] into the All-Star break and we gotta be ready to go.”
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